


A Different Kind of Magic

by Fluxx



Series: Tumblr Prompts [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: 3x10 Coda, Angst, M/M, Malec, Post-Episode: s03e10 Erchomai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 16:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15417084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluxx/pseuds/Fluxx
Summary: Prompt:prompt where alec refers to magnus as 'family' cos magnus deserves that :) x- AnonymousTrack#Fluxx Ficsontumblrfor more fics!





	A Different Kind of Magic

Honestly? He wasn’t really sure how he’d gotten here.

Some combination of walking, running, and portalling, he presumed, but he retained not a single moment of it. Here in this moment, he found himself conscious of only two things: the frantic buzz of activity drowning his ears and the thick, bitter copper of blood soaking his nose and tongue.

_Alec’s_  blood.

He felt numb in a way he hadn’t thought possible, number even than they before him who’d faded to stone in their eternal wandering. In his desperate rush to save one soul, he’d rendered himself unable to save another. In some other time, his old self might have asked what difference it made. Standing here, staring at the strained lips that gasped for air, the paled fingers that clung to crimsoned bedsheets, he knew through to his very core precisely what that difference was, though he felt sure he’d never in a million lifetimes find ample verbiage to express it.

Distantly, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and with it a negligent effort to usher him away. Vapid as he was, even that meager nudge was enough to shuffle his footsteps back, putting slight but painful distance between him and the figure fighting for life upon the medical bed…

…but, then, another set of digits seized his wrist, and one word floated to the surface amid the room’s suffocating thrum.

“…family.”

He blinked, jolted out of his numbed state. His head shifted the slight bit it needed to cast his sorrow-reddened eyes down to the hand, then the wrist, then up along the arm until it found the collar of the leather jacket, the slender neck stretching above it, the strong jaw it carried, and the single stare that had managed to capture him despite every trial cast between them.

Magnus stared, and belatedly found presence enough to summon his voice, albeit for but a single word. “…What?”

There seemed just the slightest touch of irritation in the flicker of Alec’s eyes, the furrow of his brow. After a briefly-held gazed, he repeated, “I said, you  _are_  ‘family’. You can stay.”

Though it took all of his willpower, Magnus convinced himself to look away from Alec’s eyes to regard the room. A small handful of Shadowhunters had gathered, presumably the few who’d met the team at the Institute’s doors and helped them all to the medical wing. Jace was sitting upright on a nearby bed, Izzy standing between his and Alec’s. A Shadowhunter sporting bloodied scrubs and a pair of latex gloves was by the door, one hand ushering Simon, Luke, and the few extra Shadowhunters out of the room. Clary was no where to be seen, though Magnus couldn’t quite remember whether she’d even been there to begin with.

“Very well,” a voice sounded beside him - another scubbed Shadowhunter, the one who’d previously tried to move him away from Alec.

As the room quieted down, Magnus finally managed to catch up to pace with everything around him. A wave of emotions swept through him: relief that Alec had been stabilized, concern that there seemed to be yet more recovery ahead, and…

…there didn’t seem to be a right word for it. “Guilt,” perhaps.

Inching closer to Alec’s bedside, Magnus wrapped his ring-sprinkled fingers around Alec’s hand. The breath he released was heavy, yet seemed to do nothing for the weight upon his shoulders. “Alec,” he whispered, voice still hoarse from the subsiding numb. “…Are you alright?”

A smirk cracked Alec’s proud and ofttimes stony features. “I’m not letting some stupid arrow be the thing that takes me out. Certainly not  _my own_  arrow.”

Distantly, Magnus sensed Jace’s awkward shifting, his own worried and distraught stare glued to the back of Alec’s head. He probably could have written a full dissertation on all the things they  _should_  be discussing, but try as he might Magnus couldn’t move forward, couldn’t budge from a single idea that both lifted and weighed him.

And Alec, perceptive as always, could see it hanging from Magnus’s features, clear as day. “What is it?”

Glancing over Alec, Magnus had a mind to try and brush it off - his feelings were hardly the most pertinent topic at hand. Ultimately, he gave in only because he knew Alec would press the matter, and Alec currently wasn’t in any condition to be pressing  _anything_ , in Magnus’s humble opinion. “I just… You…” His eyes glanced between Alec and his siblings, then he lowered his voice and finished, “…You said I’m ‘family’… ?”

A look of pure dread collapsed across Alec’s features. “Yes, I… I’m sorry, Magnus. Was that okay? I didn’t mean to make you feel–”

“No! I mean… Yes, it’s fine!” Magnus quickly replied, scrambling to assuage Alec’s worry. Gradually regaining himself, he softly continued, “Alec, it’s just… I’m nothing, now.”

Alec frowned, and though Magnus could tell there was a whole lot more on his mind the most the young Shadowhunter could come up with was simply, “What?”

Magnus’s head drooped, his fingers subconsciously tightening around Alec’s hand. “I… I’m powerless, Alec. I gave up all of my magic, and in doing so rendered myself useless to you. I couldn’t even save you -  _you_! When you needed me most, no less…”

To his surprise, he felt Alec’s hand tighten, summoning his gaze back upon Alec’s piercing stare. “I will  _always_  need you, Magnus, magic or not. Your magic was never what made you important to me.” It took some effort, but Alec managed to lift his other hand. In his worry, Magnus tried to stop him, to ease his arm back down upon the bed, but Alec maneuvered around him to place his large palm directly upon Magnus’s chest, his fingers encompassing the place where his heart raced like a stallion galloping across a wide and open field.

“ _This_ , Magnus. This is what makes you family… What makes you  _my_  family.”


End file.
